191 Murders, Nearly All of Them Children: Mackenzie Convicted

A Kenyan court convicted pastor Paul Mackenzie and 28 other religious leaders of 191 murders on October 19, bringing judgment in a case whose victims were almost all children. ^[1]

The court in Mombasa found that Mackenzie directed followers to starve their children so they could "meet Jesus", according to the BBC. All but one of the 191 victims were children. The defendants had pleaded not guilty and maintained that nobody was forced to die. ^[1]

The convictions establish criminal responsibility in the murder case, but families still face a separate wait to recover their relatives' remains. More than 400 bodies were discovered in shallow graves in Shakahola forest after Mackenzie's arrest in 2023, and many remain unidentified. ^[1]

The BBC's account of the judgment describes children being ordered to die, followers being subjected to force and burials being given the language of celebration. Justice Diana Mochache said followers believed Mackenzie was "Jesus's mouthpiece", according to the broadcaster. ^[1]

Mackenzie is due to be sentenced on November 6, 2026. He and other leaders also face cases concerning terrorism, radicalisation and denying children education, the BBC said. ^[1]

Orders, force and concealed deaths

The account of the proceedings describes more than instructions to refuse food. The BBC reported deaths from starvation, strangulation and bludgeoning, and said a co-accused testified that Mackenzie directed that people resisting the fast be forced to heaven "through kicks and blows". ^[1]

Burials in the forest were called "weddings". According to the BBC, the judge said the dead were celebrated as having "wedded with Jesus". A witness described a pregnant woman who was barred from nursing her newborn. The baby died 12 days later, and the woman was instructed to fast to death. ^[1]

The BBC's account of the judgment gives no full count by cause of death and does not explain why nearly all the victims were children. ^[1]

Mackenzie founded Good News International Ministries in 2003. It grew to thousands of followers across Kenya and ran a television station, according to the BBC. Its teachings forbade education and described modern medicine as evil. ^[1]

The main church closed in 2019. Mackenzie then moved to Shakahola forest and encouraged followers to join him, taking a movement with a national audience into the place where investigators would later uncover the graves. ^[1]

Families still waiting for remains

Stephen Mwiti told the BBC that he lost all six of his children to the cult and welcomed the convictions. He had found and buried the remains of only one, his son Samuel. ^[1]

Some court records identify victims only as "unknown male child", with a grave location and the date the remains were discovered, according to the BBC. Decomposition has left many families without a name to put to the remains. ^[1]

The identification effort depends on both usable material from the dead and samples from surviving relatives. During the trial, government analyst Henry Kiptoo Sang described obstacles on both sides of that comparison. ^[3]

In testimony reported by the Daily Nation on November 19, 2025, Sang said laboratories had received 453 samples from deceased people and 340 from biological relatives. Only 69 victims had been identified through DNA matching at that point. Degraded remains and too few family reference samples were barriers, he said. ^[3]

In some cases, entire families had died. Investigators then had to seek surviving siblings or extended relatives for comparisons. Sang also said mitochondrial DNA testing, another method of examining genetic material, had not begun because of its cost. ^[3]

A later snapshot, published by RFI on October 18, 2026, and republished by Yahoo, said 34 of 443 bodies and body parts held at Malindi mortuary had been identified. That mortuary count and the earlier laboratory testimony measure different things and cannot be treated as a single running tally. ^[2][3]

Alice Mwajuma Deche told RFI that she had lost 12 family members and had so far buried one. Three years after the discoveries, hundreds of people were still missing, the October 18 account said. ^[2]

Warnings went unanswered

Kenya's Commission on Administrative Justice, the country's ombudsman, found that officials in the National Government Administration and the National Police Service ignored warnings about Mackenzie's activities between 2021 and 2023. It called the deaths preventable and recommended disciplinary action against six officials, according to RFI. ^[2]

That finding puts institutional responsibility alongside the criminal convictions. The ombudsman's conclusion was that state bodies received warnings and failed to act, not simply that the deaths escaped notice. ^[2]

Elema Halake, chief executive of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, described the case as a multi-agency failure. A presidential task force's proposals and a draft Religious Organisations Bill have become the focus of a dispute over how Kenya should regulate religious organisations without restricting lawful religious practice. ^[2]

The task force, established in May 2023, delivered its report to President William Ruto in July 2024, recommending a separate law and re-registration of religious institutions. The cabinet approved a draft Religious Organisations Bill in July 2025, but its progress stalled after clergy appealed for its withdrawal, according to the October 18 RFI account. ^[2]